Blasting Granite for a basement excavation

This excavation started well but soon ran into trouble when large amounts of hard granite were encountered, the earth moving contractor had a 20 Tonne machine and a big breaker and a can do attitude, he gave it his best shot but after a week on the rock the mud bucket lost it's cutting edge, the sorting bucket crumbled, the ripper pin failed and the nice new breaker point looked like an old lipstick... Demolition Dave to the rescue, the goal was to excavate a basement 30m x 15m with a rock depth between 1.5 and 2.2m. this was never going to be a quick and easy job, compounded by the fact that the day before we arrived to blast the rain bucketed down and we ended up with nearly a meter of water in the hole!
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[@raymondgamal1953]

Good blast, no fly rock,..👍👍👍

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Can't be throwing rock around when working in a residential area.

[@vk2ig]

Nice work! Been watching a few of your videos - never seen any before until one came up in my recommended feed today. That ripper does a much better job of freeing up and moving the broken pieces than a bucket. Like a lot of things, it looks easy but that's because of the operator's skill! I liked the shot at the end panning over the results of your work - that big mound of rock.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

vk2ig - Thanks Mike, there sure was a lot of rock in this one and the guy operating the Volvo excavator was very slick.

[@everythingearthmoving6210]

Nice work Dave, you are the master!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Hi Josh, don't know how I missed your comment 8 months ago, looks like you are getting a few views on your channel now, tip for you, you will get a lot more if you interact with you viewers through their comments.

[@habbi126]

Thanks for uploading!😊

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Thanks for watching, please like and subscribe, click on the little bell symbol so you get notifications of new videos.

[@bigredracer7848]

586👍's up thanks again for taking us all along with you for the great show

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Thanks for coming

[@davebrittain9216]

Very interesting to see what is involved in doing that. Great video Dave!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Your welcome.

[@johnnymac1580]

I built in Maryland and Virginia, just outside of Washington D. C. and your description of the wet ground as puss is the best explanation I have ever heard. You need to send that broken bucket to Curtis for repair. I haven’t been cold since I moved to Florida!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Enjoy the sunshine Johnny, thanks for watching

[@davidmunro1469]

Cold in Canada is usually forty below Fahrenheit + WIND CHILL. . HA HA HA.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Well, I could not live there David, that would do me in.

[@jamesrivis620]

Where does all the rock go to Like hearing how you enjoy the results of your hard work , Dave. Woohoo ! HOWS ABOUT SAYING HELLO WITH A CLOSEUP ?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Most of it is still there James... 10 months down the track.

[@jaherman216]

Those were some very nice shots. It looked like you had fairly good fragmentation considering most of the shots didnt have any relief. I am also a blaster. We use 5.75 inch holes with an emulsion blend. We also use electronic detonators so we can remotely fire the shots. Much safer when you think we are using anywhere from 15 to 90 thousand lbs of explosives per shot. Really great video. Enjoyed seeing another side to blasting.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Thanks Jeremy, 90,000 Pounds, that is a lot of snot!

[@mattywho8485]

That looks like one expensive cellar hole! I find your videos very interesting, you are a surgeon with explosives. Funny to hear you "complain" about working in 23F temps, that's "warm" working temps here in northern Vermont in the winter! Keep the videos coming.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

I hear that you have plenty of rock in Vermont but I would not be able to function there.

[@peterantonic6923]

Demolition Dave Drilling and Blasting. That makes two of us, if the locals consider that warm I wouldn't want to see their cold. Yuck 😣

[@lordsnot2268]

Yup. That was therapeutic to watch.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

It is soooooo therapeutic to blow it up when you have spent a few days drilling it with a hand drill! Most of this one was done with the drill of the 3.5 Tonne excavator.

[@rafcezar5003]

i wish i may join your team..

[@jwdickinson643]

that sounded like a BRRRRRT from an A-10...👍👍👍

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

About as loud also!

[@leonmarut917]

good show again mate

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Thank you.

[@peterantonic6923]

Dave, -5C😱 that's uncivilised. Mate pack up and come over to sunny Perth, winter over here is a lot more bearable, the lowest it got down to was 6C on a couple of mornings. Thank you for the video it was great. 👍

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Deal! I skipped a job on Saturday, in the hills out East of Melbourne because it was 1c and snowing!

[@peterantonic6923]

Demolition Dave Drilling and Blasting. I don't blame you, I wouldn't have done the job either. 1C and snow is a good time to sit in the lounge with your feet up, patting the cat and enjoying a hot cuppa.

[@richardwright8692]

good video mate! I feel like I'm ready to blast!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

You should! When in doubt - just blast it! Makes very difficult jobs a lot easier.

[@steveneumann5332]

You are good at your job

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Thank you Steve

[@Femmpaws]

I'm really glad I stumbled onto your channel. I'm looking at a place that is about 7 hecktares and is mostly basalt rock under soil of the surface. Seeing this makes me hopeful that was can put in a home in the hillside of the property. If you were here in the States I would be asking you a lot of questions. I work in a quarry doing repair work so we do large blasts to break up rock for feeding to a crusher plant... nothing small scale like this. Our last blast a year ago was a ton or so of explosive and it moved roughly 50 to 70,000 yards of rock. I've not seen things on this small of a scale. Using the dirt to stem the holes and stop flying rock is a hell of an idea after seeing how we do it.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Hi Kriss, if the rock is just Basalt then you can probably smash it out with a big machine fitted with a breaker, depending on how deep you need to go it may be more economical to blast it. I guess that in the quarry they drill big holes, the smallest hole that I can get somebody with a big drill rig to drill now is 89mm (3.5 inch) and this is not use if you are drilling shallow holes where as in this kind of work I mostly use 32, 35 or 38mm holes. Filling blast holes right to the top is very waistfull and produces heaps of noise and much more flyrock. Sensible depth of stemming is usually 20 - 30 times the hole diameter. The shot firer at the quarry might be able to help, the process and the maths is exactly that same, just on a smaller scale and you don't have to use such a high loading rate as you just need to break it enough to be able to dig it out.

[@Femmpaws]

The bore holes were five and six inch (125mm and 150mm) some places they were 40 or so meters deep other places they were 10 to 20 meters. I know when I watched the video of the blast a big chunck of the quarry wall moved. Where I would want to put the home they would have to go down about 4 to 5 meters in an area of 30 by 40 meters. The idea is to blast out a shelf to build an underground home into and cover it with a meter or so of earth. It's got a great southern exposure and view of the Columbia River in Central Washington. The reason to put it underground is to protect is from the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. It's common to see -10 to -15 C lows in the winter and 40 plus C highs in the summer. In the fall and spring it's very temperate.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Washington, oh, you need these guys - mccallumrock.com/ They know what they are doing and should be able to handle your job, check out there videos - kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHiYnnymp7V9qJI

[@theshaddowaust]

I still have a video that I made in high school from a farm job site that needed a bit of work done, a family friend was the balster. The owner needed a few rocks gone and boy did we but the best was a tree we had to drop and fence post hole, the post is still standing to this day tho the fence has had to be replaced a few times from floods. The tree was the best, it had a rock core so you could not cut it down for the first 4 foot, the farmer wanted it to go and he also asked if we could make it a show, if you ever seen a 30m gum fly that just something to watch. Most of the work was safety fuse, detonator and detcord, but we also used Amfo, it was one of the best day of blasting even for me.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Hi Shane, I've done numerous standing trees that were considered to dangerous to cut, the usual story is that they are within a fall radius of a place were people could be hurt if it went over and the tree is fire damaged or what ever. Good jobs, always use plenty of ANFO.

[@TyphoonVstrom]

That's a big hole man! If this was my property, I'd keep the rock on site for walls and such.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

A lot of it has been kept on site for landscaping and stuff.

[@josephastier7421]

Me too!

[@kamurray67]

I won't make fun of you for -5 C temp because temp is relative to what you are used too. I understand that feeling of bone chilling cold especially when the wind is involved. It seems to cut right through you. We are in Summer here in the states and have the cold winds to look forward to in a couple of more months. Stay warm and keep those summer time thoughts.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Sorry I missed your comment months ago, I know, I know we have it easy compared to a lot of the US.

[@CompletelyZoningOut]

Nice video Uncle Dave!! You've come a long way from when we were wet drilling and using blast mats in 2002!! Immanuel still probably has the record for hand drilled holes in a day though, unless you topped him. Are you using a vacuum extraction system it looks like now? Nice work, I watched the whole thing! :D

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

SabreAnt - Ha ha, yeah that boy was dedicated driller. On one job we did 2988 holes together.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

No more wet drilling, that made it hard. I now have two really good 2400W HEAPA vac units and two drill rigs, still do plenty of hand drilling though because we are good at it and not to many competitors want to do it.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

You were on this one @ 19:44 onward kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHSwm5SPm7qagbM

[@markfryer9880]

Nice job Dave. 30 X 15 m is quite a basement. Where around Melbourne was this?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

North West

[@imarat21]

What are you using to break the rocks?,, it seem to be such a small thud but yet a lot of broken rock.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Just regular high explosives as used in mines and quarries everywhere. It is only mild because there is at least a meter of soil over the blast, without this cover it would attract a lot of attention.

[@briangardiner1015]

What size holes did you say you were drilling? I thought there were two sizes. Why two sizes to presplit the wall? Was the contractor that had the Volvo the same one that had the Kobelco?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Hi Brian, nearly all the holes on this job were 38mm, a few 35mm holes when I broke a drill steel and also ran out of 38mm knock on drill heads. The Volvo was operated by a different guy - a really good operator.

[@joemommma6573]

those blasts crack me up. i was expecting a volcano not a fart

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

joe mommma - It is all about using explosives to solve difficult eathmoving problems in a residential area without causing any damage or upset.

[@joemommma6573]

Demolition Dave Drilling and Blasting i kind of figured it was a way to make the detonation process more efficient and causing less noise and rmess. i didnt mean anything bad. i thot it was just really funny cause i was expecting Hiroshima lol

[@joemommma6573]

Demolition Dave Drilling and Blasting direct me to a good blast video. i loved the log splitting one... hell i love alll of them. thanks for recording these. i watched like 10 in a row the nite before last

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

joe mommma - thanks for watching Joe, please like and subscribe, more video coming soon. I'll be going back too the place we did the log splitting next month and have a few ideas for videos that we can do there.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Try the Thompson valley road video

[@flantc]

Shot 2 looked perfect. Quiet but burped up some rock out to make it easier to break up. Was this an ideal shot or do you not want cover penetrated at all?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Ideally you don't want it to break cover, the more that the rock lifts up into the covering soil the more sorting work you have to do.

[@vsvnrg3263]

the notes mention a crumbled sorting bucket. that would be it at bottom right hand side at 6:49. looks fatal. in perth we call them rake buckets.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Yes, two buckets and a ripper ruined on this one before I started.

[@joemommma6573]

i thought it didnt rain there. and yall had the worst drought ever. is what it always says in the news everytime lol

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

It when I've drilled a lot of holes Joe.

[@Dan-qt7kq]

Is that some kinda low vibration explosive. I need to take some rock off a camp/cottage/lake house, lots different names them. But there are places they built the road and are close to jut outside or rock, I call it just a part of Canada. I’d like blast but worried about places close to road a d not to vibrate area so they won’t be able to blame me fora crack or their tilted place now has something to blame it on. I looked the stuff that expands but it’s a few hundred just for one hole. Or because of northern Ontario- we get very cold winters, Cana bunch of holes be drilled, fill them with water and then let Mother Nature freeze it and look in spring? Ideas

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Hi Dan. In this job I was using just regular high explosives and the vibration produced is minimal when the blast is designed with this outcome in mind, any local drill and blast contractor that knows his job, with a bit of experience should be able to do it safely for you. Alternately hire a rock drill and buy your self a box of Dexpan from www.dexpan-canada.com/info The stuff is not that expensive, word of warning do not think that you can probably get away with a smaller diameter hole size using your electric drill, this is the number one fail that I see over and over when people over here try to do it themselves, you must used a 38mm hole. The ice method is very hit and miss, you need big diameter holes and lots of them and if it does not work well then you have to wait until next year.

[@art1muz13]

This excavation started well but soon ran into trouble when large amounts of hard granite were encountered!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Yeah, not just a bit!

[@MrSunrise-]

Hi Dave, I'm in Alberta, Canada, and we dig deep basements to get below the frost line so the foundations don't heave. Can you explain why such a deep basement is required in Melbourne?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Customer just wanted and underground car park and basements. Basements are unusual in Australia. It was cold enough doing this job in the Melbourne winter, I just can't imagine working in construction in Canada.

[@MrSunrise-]

Thanks Dave! Much appreciate all the videos!

[@geoffkail7393]

That was some stubborn rock. It was a full week for that basement right?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Can't remember exactly Geoff, but it took longer than it should have because the first crappy excavator blew a pump and blocked my access so that I ended up doing a few days drilling with a hand drill.

[@feber]

How much does it cost for an excavation like that?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

feber - email me from the contact page in my website

[@tedohio3038]

Nice and warm in Ohio this time of year.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Got anything you need blown up Ted? I'll be right over...

[@tedohio3038]

come on over, will find something to remove.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

@@tedohio3038 - It's gettin near that cold time of year for me again Ted, you must have found something by now??

[@tedohio3038]

We have had a wet spring, getting nice now. I am removing rocks from my fields, got the easy ones. You could help with the big ones!

[@docpedersen7582]

I would asume "absolutely freezing" was a relative expression. If you actually got down to a hard freeze temp you could use ice to split rock. Much of the granite used to build the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City was cut by drilling holes all summer then filling them with water in the winter.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Yeah, I'm just a bit over working outside in the winter. I did not know about the Mormon Granite being split that way, must have had very close hole spacing.

[@jacobbrown7367]

@@demolitiondavedrillandblast yeah it took a very close spacing and a very long time. I believe it was some 40 or 50 years to finish the temple

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

40 or 50 years... groan, that must have been before pneumatic drills, I guess there was plenty of free labour.

[@scummyinoz]

cheers

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Cheers Scummy.

[@thelamb288]

Who gets to keep and then sell on the rock that you have blown up? Must be worth quite a lot for rockeries and such :) Cheers.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

More often than not we are just looking to get rid of it without having to pay.

[@The250wtf]

Needs a thumb on the excavator lol

[@donnkelley6823]

Thumb and a single shank ripper...... And just maybe a mansize excavator. Leave the toys at home....

[@scummyinoz]

1st lol nice what a job

[@mikethespikemorgan]

Do you get any (or many) charges that don't explode

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Michael Morgan - No, that is very unusual, not unheard of though so I'm always watching carefully while the rock is being dug out.

[@ianslow1234]

what is the solution to the rock pile? feed it through a crusher or can it be used as embankment cover?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

It is probably going to the quarry just down the road.

[@markfryer9880]

Does the quarry charge to take material or is it free rock for them?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Free rock for them.

[@ianslow1234]

Thanks, ill have to work out how I can use a few loads.

[@heartland96a]

Siren is louder than the blasting lol,seems the people decided to build right on top of a shallow bedrock outcrop.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Yes, the siren is often louder. There is rock everywhere in this area.

[@andik859]

The loudest of the blasting ist the ignition tube 💣💥. What a lot of rocks are in the basement hole. This basement gets expensive, before its begin. One week drilling and blasting. Neightbours are not amused. 🤣

[@Paultimate7]

"sub basement area" ...uhhhh the wat now? have i had the definition of a basement wrong my whole life?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

It's a hole in the ground that you tip money into!

[@bernard6413]

If this was to be done in the us! it would measure 7.8 on the richterscale on the moon!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

RØDEPØLSER DK - So many people have said similar things.

[@yurilukosjlukosh2687]

I like watching your work but can you skip the sirens ?

[@bobbaer869]

What do you with all that rock you take out

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Try and find somebody who wants it.

[@harmandros]

at least , can you sell these rocks?

[@ChrisB257]

Nice! Trying to image fly rock if you had no stemming :) Incredible amount of rock... expensive basement!

[@ratansonawane161]

ChrisB257 contorl balasting

[@paulk8121]

-5 windchill? Try -55 here in Canada. Ya Pelican!

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

I really can't get my head around that, ...Although I'm probably still working at higher temperatures that would have you running for cover.

[@RangieNZ]

6:48 The screen bucket is looking a bit second hand! :)

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Yeah, don't try and dig hard rock with Chinese buckets.

[@rizdalegend]

What geological event caused all these granite boulders. Excavation in your region must be expensive

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

The current line of thinking suggests that they were pushed up from deep inside the earth. There are only a handful of really rocky areas like this in my region, yes it is not cheap, my wear and tear cost are very high and the consumables are expensive also.

[@bigredracer7848]

Why does 5° C is 23° f it's still above 0° I don't know what you're talking about

[@octiman2997]

Don't you guys have a large jacl hammer bulldozers... ????

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

No use at all on this very hard rock, it kills the points very quickly

[@sergeroitman5017]

whatever is going to be built there it will suffer eternal problems with humidity and leakages

[@henerymag]

That must add a considerable cost to build a home.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

The home is a 4 Million Dollar project, my works were a pittance.

[@henerymag]

@@demolitiondavedrillandblast Thank you. Hope you got paid well that's a lot of work and a good job.

[@lingenfelter502]

Why so Many tiny mickey mouse blastings at this open country?..more holes gives better rock results and the operator man gets more happy when he dosent need to use a ripper to dig😆

[@neilkennykenny4113]

If this was being done in America bits of stone would of been blasted in every direction and a huge hole left in the ground..

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

America does not have a monopoly on blasting contractors that "over do it"

[@neilkennykenny4113]

Demolition Dave Drilling and Blasting i know America dose not have a monopoly on over doing things but they do have a tenancy.

[@killingoldgrowthsince]

Glad I live in Canada where we can do it properly. Neil

[@killingoldgrowthsince]

I find blasting mats more efficient then covering with dirt.

[@mickcarson8504]

You are building in granite/radon country, you'll be dead in a matter of time, trust me. It's a wonder nobody uses a geiger counter.

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

Hi Mick, would you like to do some measurements at some of my work sites?

[@mickcarson8504]

@@demolitiondavedrillandblast LOL. You're kidding, right?

[@demolitiondavedrillandblast]

No, If you have a Geiger counter, lets go and do some measuring. I followed up this issue a long time back and was told that there is not really any "hot rock" around Melbourne, But I know a hot place that there is only 1.5 Hours from Melbourne that is not widely known

[@kenore4003]

I know this is way behind the curve but you do not have to live over hard rock to have a radon problem. I live in eastern Nebraska and the hardest rock we have here is limestone. But we have radon that I assume has been eroded from the Rocky mountains and washed here.